Homebrew FAQ: Is freeShop legal?

[SoslanVanWieren]

TO bad you can't pirate pokebank with it

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Sorry to say this but the entire OP is a load of bulls***

Twist it as much as you want, freeShop it's entirely built over illegality

If it were simply a new, simpler and faster eShop layout it would be nice by itself, but it's designed over piracy. You can download tickets from it, wich also allows to download any game from the original eShop for free.

And yes, i'm a freeshop user, but that doesn't stop me from seeing as what it is: A tool designed for piracy.

Yes it is why make a legal eshop if you can just use the official one

 

[Osakasan]

Yes it is why make a legal eshop if you can just use the official one

I don't care using freeShop, my point is about this thread being ridiculous, trying to justify something injustifiable. It's like that key site or that iso site being forbidden to even mention them. It's ridiculous and hypocritical, and shows just how double-minded this community is. It reminds me to Elotrolado.

Yes, homebrew is entirely legal and not related to piracy, but then you have entire forums dedicated to backup loaders, software wich only purpose is to download games from NUS, and sigpatching with the excuse of loading homebrew when the HBL 1.4 for Wii U exists. In this community where piracy is forbidden, you have people posting this

My sincerest thanks for Child of Light, Axiom Verge, Mutant Muds (both), Dr. Luigi, Pandora's Tower, Earthbound Beginnings, Pikmin 3 DLC, Pikmin shorts, Runbow DLC, Axiom Verge, Hyrule Historia, The Binding of Issac: Rebirth, Mario lost levels, Mario seven star saga, Startropics, Sin and Punishment (N64), along with updates for said games.

I believe I speak on the behalf of everyone when I say you saved me a lot of time and money, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Honestly I'll just pretend this was an apology from Nintendo for the NES Classic and My Nintendo flops.

And no one bats an eye.

I've been meaning to say this for a long, long time, but this kind of approach is ridiculous and the post i just quoted proves it. Forbidding the mere mention of piracy as a word won't make the fact that this is a piracy-centric community go away. Where do you guys think people go when they want to pirate games and have the courage to open up their machines themselves? In spain, Elotrolado if they can't speak english, and gbatemp if they can, because both sites are famous and the mecca of piracy (and, if the manage to get interested, homebrew, but that comes waaaay later)

I'm still trying to swallow the fact that this thread even exists. For me it's the epitome and emdobiment of the hypocrisy behind this community, and the mental gymnastics shown in the OP are cringeworthy and shameful.

 

[The Catboy]

Sorry to say this but the entire OP is a load of bulls***

Twist it as much as you want, freeShop it's entirely built over illegality

If it were simply a new, simpler and faster eShop layout it would be nice by itself, but it's designed over piracy. You can download tickets from it, wich also allows to download any game from the original eShop for free.

And yes, i'm a freeshop user, but that doesn't stop me from seeing as what it is: A tool designed for piracy.

No, you are the one who has twisted freeShop to fit your needs. FreeShop is not intended for piracy, regardless of how the user chooses to use it. It may not prevent piracy and no one is denying that can be used for piracy. But it is completely on you as the user to choose to use it that way. You went and found those keys, you went and used used those keys, you are at fault. Don't blame freeShop because you choose to use it illegally.

I don't care using freeShop, my point is about this thread being ridiculous, trying to justify something injustifiable. It's like that key site or that iso site being forbidden to even mention them. It's ridiculous and hypocritical, and shows just how double-minded this community is. It reminds me to Elotrolado.

Yes, homebrew is entirely legal and not related to piracy, but then you have entire forums dedicated to backup loaders, software wich only purpose is to download games from NUS, and sigpatching with the excuse of loading homebrew when the HBL 1.4 for Wii U exists. In this community where piracy is forbidden, you have people posting this

And no one bats an eye.

I've been meaning to say this for a long, long time, but this kind of approach is ridiculous and the post i just quoted proves it. Forbidding the mere mention of piracy as a word won't make the fact that this is a piracy-centric community go away. Where do you guys think people go when they want to pirate games and have the courage to open up their machines themselves? In spain, Elotrolado if they can't speak english, and gbatemp if they can, because both sites are famous and the mecca of piracy (and, if the manage to get interested, homebrew, but that comes waaaay later)

I'm still trying to swallow the fact that this thread even exists. For me it's the epitome and emdobiment of the hypocrisy behind this community, and the mental gymnastics shown in the OP are cringeworthy and shameful.

I can actually tell that you didn't even bother to read the thread and you are just acting like you did.
GBATemp does not condone piracy in any manor, but with that said, GBATemp does believe in freedom of speech and choice. These programs more often than not, do not directly advertise nor condone piracy as their main use, they allow the user to make that choice on their own. That's what you are missing, choice. You are passing the blame for your actions onto the devs because you can't take responsibility for your actions.

You are the one ignoring the reality that you chose to pirate, that you went out of your way to pirate. You took a program intended for redownloading your games and chose to use it for piracy. You can't blame freeShop for your actions, you are the one responsible for them.
Seriously, the issue with the "It can pirate" argument can apply to all forms of software. If you download hundreds of movies with uTorrent, who's at fault? The uTorrent team for not stopping you or you for using it for piracy? Rhetorical question, you are completely at fault for using uTorrent to download movies. These devs are not there to stop you nor direct you in your life. What you do with their software is completely up to you. But just because one can use it for something illegal, does not in onto itself make that program illegal.

Yes the app is legal but most people will use it for piracy very few use it to download games they own

It's almost as if you are just replying to boast your post count at this point. The entire point of this thread was to point out that freeShop, the actual homebrew, itself, alone, with nothing else, just the homebrew, by itself, without illegal keys, freeShop, no illegal keys, the app, is legal.

 

[SoslanVanWieren]

Its why nintedo does not like hacking because it can be used for piracy

 

[The Catboy]

Its why nintedo does not like hacking because it can be used for piracy

No one is arguing this, but you are completely missing the point of this thread and I am starting to think you are trolling at this point.

 

[Osakasan]

No one is arguing this, but you are completely missing the point of this thread and I am starting to think you are trolling at this point.

Sorry, but the very base of your thinking is this

If you download hundreds of movies with uTorrent, who's at fault?

Wich is flawed at a fundamental level.

BitTorrent it's nothing but a form of p2p, wich by itself is mainly a form of network communication between devices. BitTorrent allows file sharing, wich is fine. What you do with it is up to you.

Now, when it comes to NUSGrabber, Wii U USB Helper, UtikDownloadHelper and Freeshop, every single one of those pieces of software has been designed with one single function in mind:

Bypass Nintendo's limitation (be it delisting, be it paying for content) while downloading content directly from their servers.

That's where you are wrong, and when the comparision with every single p2p client in the world falls apart.

Freeshop is designed to bypass the payment that stops you from getting games. Nothing more, nothing else. There may be exceptions? Of course! UtikDownloadHelper is, in fact, pretty useful if you're blocking Nintendo servers or, in the case of any PC NUS grabbing software, if for some reason you can't use Wifi with your console.

But that beats your reasoning even further, because the FreeShop not only bypass the paywall, it also installs on and works from the very same machine you ue to download software with it.

As i said before, i don't care who uses the Freeshop, i use the freeshop, but stop pretending it's somewhat legal, righteous and you're doing no harm using it, because you're wrong, and you're lying to yourself if you think you aren't.

There's no way around this. It is that simple.

And this thread being a sticky proves even farther that i'm right about the double-mindness of this community.

 

[jt_1258]

so how on topic has this thread kept to so far? hope it's going better then the original freeShop release thread :/ good luck

 

[V0ltr0n]

[QUOTE="Osakasan, post: 7284493, member: 37219
~Partial snip~

As i said before, i don't care who uses the Freeshop, i use the freeshop, but stop pretending it's somewhat legal, righteous and you're doing no harm using it, because you're wrong, and you're lying to yourself if you think you aren't.

There's no way around this. It is that simple.

And this thread being a sticky proves even farther that i'm right about the double-mindness of this community.[/QUOTE]

I get what you are saying, and it's very true. Devs have done this for as long as I can remember and I can't blame them. Best to cover your ass when releasing something that allows illegal activity.

That being said, everyone damn well knows what emulators, freeshop, rooting, jailbreaking, cfw etc are all used for. People can try to hide behind the thin excuse that "this wasn't made to enable piracy". Its bullshit and everyone knows it. It's a cya statement and that is as far as it goes. Are these things illegal? No. Are they meant to allow illegal things to happen? You damn well know the answer is yes. I doubt anyone since freeshop has released has used it legally. And before anyone pipes up and say they use it legally, I'm going to preempt that statement and call you a damn liar. Nobody hotwires their car if they have perfectly working keys.

Hiding behind thinly spread bullshit in an attempt to appear "pure" isn't fooling anyone.

 

[GreatCrippler]

This has to rate high on the "Why is this a thread?" radar. Freeshop (The ap alone that will do nothing by itself) = Legal.... Adding title keys and downloading anything via backdoor from the eshop = illegal. That simple.

 

[chrisrlink]

if nintendo just shuts up and stop complaining and fixes their shitty eshop security instead of throwing out usless updates to patch new non A9LH units from getting a9lh and just work on server side security piracy wouldn't be AS prevalent and a dick slap to the face as it is now i mean ppl are litterally ripping off nintendo directly right in front of them rather then going to shady sites to get their warez laughable and you know what after all the bs nintendo's doing ""protecting their IP's and making themselves looking like complete jackasses "in my eyes even if it isn't showing (as of yet) Nintendo is doing a fine job dragging their PR down the toilet by lawsuits (then again I'm anti pretty much everything now)

 

[The Catboy]

Sorry, but the very base of your thinking is this



Wich is flawed at a fundamental level.

BitTorrent it's nothing but a form of p2p, wich by itself is mainly a form of network communication between devices. BitTorrent allows file sharing, wich is fine. What you do with it is up to you.

Now, when it comes to NUSGrabber, Wii U USB Helper, UtikDownloadHelper and Freeshop, every single one of those pieces of software has been designed with one single function in mind:

Bypass Nintendo's limitation (be it delisting, be it paying for content) while downloading content directly from their servers.

That's where you are wrong, and when the comparision with every single p2p client in the world falls apart.

Freeshop is designed to bypass the payment that stops you from getting games. Nothing more, nothing else. There may be exceptions? Of course! UtikDownloadHelper is, in fact, pretty useful if you're blocking Nintendo servers or, in the case of any PC NUS grabbing software, if for some reason you can't use Wifi with your console.

But that beats your reasoning even further, because the FreeShop not only bypass the paywall, it also installs on and works from the very same machine you ue to download software with it.

As i said before, i don't care who uses the Freeshop, i use the freeshop, but stop pretending it's somewhat legal, righteous and you're doing no harm using it, because you're wrong, and you're lying to yourself if you think you aren't.

There's no way around this. It is that simple.

And this thread being a sticky proves even farther that i'm right about the double-mindness of this community.

Yet there are still flaws for your own statements. Like I've said multiple time already, this thread is about freeShop, how you choose to use it is completely up to you. If you choose to use it them for illegal piracy, that is still your choice. FreeShop does not provide you with those keys.
At no point did I claim to be righteous nor that piracy does no harm. What I am stating is that freeShop the homebrew itself is legal. It's how you choose to use it that changes everything.
You continue to argue that freeShop can be used for piracy, thus freeShop is illegal. That simply isn't true. Though it walks a legal tight rope, it simply isn't outright illegal. Like I would like to point again, I am not arguing that it can't be used for illegal piracy, but that is still a matter of choice.
Regardless, this is about freeShop itself and to answer the simple question of "Is the homebrew, freeShop, legal?" And the simple answer is, without illegal keys and without the 3DS bootsplash, freeShop, the homebrew, is legal. How you use it is a completely different story and completely up to you. You are failing to understand the point of this thread.
EDIT: Something I would like to mention is that at no point did I ever try to justify piracy like your post implies. Nor did at any point did I deny freeShop to have a piracy usage. Neither of those on the other hand are point of this thread.

so how on topic has this thread kept to so far? hope it's going better then the original freeShop release thread :/ good luck

There have only been a few posts that needed to be removed. I did give a fair warning right from the start.
Although everyone seems to think this thread is me attempting to justify piracy. Which is mostly off topic,

 

[jt_1258]

There have only been a few posts that needed to be removed. I did give a fair warning right from the start.
Although everyone seems to think this thread is me attempting to justify piracy. Which is mostly off topic,

I'm surprised this isn't just a thread that's a pin with no comments allowed yet, I would hate for it to come that but sadly it may come to that. I'm also a bit ticked at how they are somewhat saying if you use freeshop you are a pirate period. iirc it is now possible to patch system apps with luma now, if somebody added a speed and numerical progress display to the download screen in eshop I would gladly jump back to using the eshop and theres also the matter that freeshop is WAY faster then the slugish in comparison eshop. theres 2 reasons why I choose to use freeshop over the eshop because it's just more convenient, not pertaining to spacificaly piracy.

 

[Dionicio3]

I like how people are like "don't use freeshop it's illegal!!11!1!!", if it bothers you, here is your solution.

 

[jt_1258]

That being said, everyone damn well knows what emulators, freeshop, rooting, jailbreaking, cfw etc are all used for.

I'm just looking to help make sure the point you are trying to get a cross doesn't get lost in someone using flaws in the post to have an excuse to know down your post emidiatly. Rooting is what you do for android, and 99% of the time you do not need to root and android device in order to pirate applications on it, not a necessary step so it isn't necessary in your statement.

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I like how people are like "don't use freeshop it's illegal!!11!1!!", if it bothers you, here is your solution.

hehe, lul, I actually fell for that logout button XD

 

[V0ltr0n]

@jt_1258 True. Went a bit overboard in my little list. Glad you got the gist though. It's ok if someone tries to poke holes in my post. We all have our own opinions. Rooting does allow for cheating including getting items and such in games that are meant to be paid for. I know that's not the main point of rooting and was a bad example as you pointed out.

 

[The Catboy]

I get what you are saying, and it's very true. Devs have done this for as long as I can remember and I can't blame them. Best to cover your ass when releasing something that allows illegal activity.

That being said, everyone damn well knows what emulators, freeshop, rooting, jailbreaking, cfw etc are all used for. People can try to hide behind the thin excuse that "this wasn't made to enable piracy". Its bullshit and everyone knows it. It's a cya statement and that is as far as it goes. Are these things illegal? No. Are they meant to allow illegal things to happen? You damn well know the answer is yes. I doubt anyone since freeshop has released has used it legally. And before anyone pipes up and say they use it legally, I'm going to preempt that statement and call you a damn liar. Nobody hotwires their car if they have perfectly working keys.

Hiding behind thinly spread bullshit in an attempt to appear "pure" isn't fooling anyone.

The issue with your statement is that it's actually not what I've been saying.
The idea of saying, this "This is illegal because it can be used for piracy." Simply isn't a correct statement because that doesn't make it illegal. Choosing to use it for piracy makes your actions illegal, not the program. FreeShop doesn't provide links to any pirated software nor advocate the use of piracy. It gives the option to pirate to the user and the user alone.
Every single statement saying that freeShop allows piracy isn't wrong, but they still aren't taking personal responsibility for their actions. You are the one choosing to pirate, freeShop may be the tool used for it, but you can't ignore the underlining layer of choice.
Also you don't need to root android phones to install pirated apps. You just need to enable "Install from unknown sources," on most phones.

 

[jt_1258]

The issue with your statement is that it's actually not what I've been saying.
The idea of saying, this "This is illegal because it can be used for piracy." Simply isn't a correct statement because that doesn't make it illegal. Choosing to use it for piracy makes your actions illegal, not the program. FreeShop doesn't provide links to any pirated software nor advocate the use of piracy. It gives the option to pirate to the user and the user alone.
Every single statement saying that freeShop allows piracy isn't wrong, but they still aren't taking personal responsibility for their actions. You are the one choosing to pirate, freeShop may be the tool used for it, but you can't ignore the underlining layer of choice.
Also you don't need to root android phones to install pirated apps. You just need to enable "Install from unknown sources," on most phones.

that very last part I already mentioned with the root but to my main point here, technicaly google drive and mega could be used as piracy tools

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@jt_1258 True. Went a bit overboard in my little list. Glad you got the gist though. It's ok if someone tries to poke holes in my post. We all have our own opinions. Rooting does allow for cheating including getting items and such in games that are meant to be paid for. I know that's not the main point of rooting and was a bad example as you pointed out.

just to clear the air I just want to state that I AM NOT taking sides in this mini war here, my amount of and lack of support is equal, yes it is wrong that these tools are used for pirating the shit out of ninty but the conversation is very much off topic, we need to figure some sort of compromise before this gets locked

my view on this matter is something like this, is google drive and mega illegal since they can be used to pirate games? that is what I leave you all to think about

 

[raulpica]

@SoslanVanWieren is now banned from this thread since it's clear that he's on a anti-freeShop crusade of some kind and not simply asking questions.

 

[jt_1258]

@SoslanVanWieren is now banned from this thread since it's clear that he's on a anti-freeShop crusade of some kind and not simply asking questions.

people can be banned from individual threads? end up finding new stuff about this site all the time now o.o

 

[Sketchy1]

Sorry, but the very base of your thinking is this



Wich is flawed at a fundamental level.

BitTorrent it's nothing but a form of p2p, wich by itself is mainly a form of network communication between devices. BitTorrent allows file sharing, wich is fine. What you do with it is up to you.

Now, when it comes to NUSGrabber, Wii U USB Helper, UtikDownloadHelper and Freeshop, every single one of those pieces of software has been designed with one single function in mind:

Bypass Nintendo's limitation (be it delisting, be it paying for content) while downloading content directly from their servers.

That's where you are wrong, and when the comparision with every single p2p client in the world falls apart.

Freeshop is designed to bypass the payment that stops you from getting games. Nothing more, nothing else. There may be exceptions? Of course! UtikDownloadHelper is, in fact, pretty useful if you're blocking Nintendo servers or, in the case of any PC NUS grabbing software, if for some reason you can't use Wifi with your console.

But that beats your reasoning even further, because the FreeShop not only bypass the paywall, it also installs on and works from the very same machine you ue to download software with it.

As i said before, i don't care who uses the Freeshop, i use the freeshop, but stop pretending it's somewhat legal, righteous and you're doing no harm using it, because you're wrong, and you're lying to yourself if you think you aren't.

There's no way around this. It is that simple.

And this thread being a sticky proves even farther that i'm right about the double-mindness of this community.

Actually, I'd just like to point out a few things.

Free shop is open sourced, and isn't copyrighted, so therefore, we can mention it on GBATemp, where as that iso site and such DO contain copyrighted content. And besides, that rule is to protect GBATemp, not us.

Secondly free shop only allows you to download things ONLY if you have the required tickets, which can only be obtained if you legally purchase a game. If a user grabs tickets for a game they dont own, then that's the end user doing something illegal, not free shop

Next I'd like to point out your use of the word "bypass".
That would imply that their servers use some kind of encryption to stop unauthorized programs from accessing their servers, but the fact is, even grandma's flip-phone could, because they in fact have very little protection to stop non-nintendo devices.

Plus, bitorrent, the very thing you just said was OK, has the same fundamentals as freeshop- if the user does something illegal, it's them, not us

It's a bit of a splotchy area in legal matters, but until Nintendo can actually prove it was created for piracy purposes, they can't exactly win any legal battles with it, let alone prove its illegal